Encyclopedia entry
Jabbok
A pouring out, or a wrestling, one of the streams on the east of Jordan, into which it falls about midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, or about 45 miles below the Sea of Galilee. It rises on the eastern side of the mountains of Gilead, and runs a course of about 65 miles in a wild and deep ravine. It was the boundary between the territory of the Ammonites and that of Og, king of Bashan (Josh. 12:1-5; Num. 21:24); also between the tribe of Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh (21:24; Deut. 3:16). In its course westward across the plains it passes more than once underground. “The scenery along its banks is probably the most picturesque in Palestine; and the ruins of town and village and fortress which stud the surrounding mountain-side render the country as interesting as it is beautiful.” This river is now called the Zerka, or blue river.
Also from Smith's (1884) +−
(emptying), a stream which intersects the mountain range of Gilead, comp. (Joshua 12:2,5) and falls into the Jordan on the east about midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. It was anciently the border of the children of Ammon. (Numbers 21:24; 2:37; 3:16) It was on the south bank of the Jabbok that the interview took place between Jacob and Esau, (Genesis 32:22) and this river afterward became, toward its western part, the boundary between the kingdoms of Sihon and Og. (Joshua 12:2,5) Its modern name is Wady Zurka .
In the Bible
7
Verses where Jabbok is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).
- Deuteronomy 2:37
But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
- Deuteronomy 3:16
and to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.
- Genesis 32:22
During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
- Joshua 12:2
Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,
- Judges 11:13
The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”
- Judges 11:22
seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
+1 more verse naming Jabbok.
Entries that reference Jabbok
29
Jabbok references
16
Sources · Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869) · Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884)
Public-domain text. Modernized only where archaic spelling impedes reading; original facts preserved. Verify against an authoritative modern reference before quoting.